Main menu

CEPA's Core Teams and Mission

The Center for Education Policy & Advocacy is a policy and advocacy agency that builds student power and strengthens student voice. CEPA also works on higher education issues at a statewide level, lobbying in support of access to an affordable college education in the state of Massachusetts. CEPA operates as an agency of the Student Government Association and is structured into four core teams: Access and Affordability, Campus Culture, Gender Equity, and Student Labor Action Project. Working both independently and collaboratively, the core teams build partnerships with students, student organizations, faculty, staff, and the administration to institutionalize student voice and shared governance. Our campaigns cover a range of student issues and strive to build a campus environment that is inclusive of and responsive to the diverse needs of students from different cultures and backgrounds, including but not limited to ALANA, LGBTQ, low socio-economic, first generation, international and nontraditional students. We always welcome new members and encourage students to check the core team descriptions below. Together we can continue to work towards a unified and powerful student voice.

Access and Affordability Core Team
Access and Affordability is the statewide advocacy core team of CEPA that works with student groups at other state universities and colleges in Massachusetts as well as across the country (New Jersey, Wisconsin, Oregon, and California to just name a few). This core team focuses on advocating for increased funding for public higher education and the overall affordability and accessibility of higher education on a statewide level and national level. CEPA’s Access and Affordability core team supports the expansion of shared governance within the university, state, and country. They also deal with the issue of student debt-- something that has now surpassed a trillion dollars nationally.

Campus Culture Core Team
The Campus Culture core team conducts research of policy changes and develops programs for students to foster a strong political and social safe space for underrepresented communities on campus. This strong team of advocates works to protect and improve resources of underrepresented students at the university. Campus Culture works with various Registered Student Organizations (RSOs), student initiatives, campus communities, faculty and administrators to draft policy changes. Campus Culture plans and initiates many events and activities on campus that bring together diverse campus groups to discuss problems with our campus climate and celebrate change and diversity that can result from the hard work of student collaboration.

Gender Equity Core Team
Gender Equity’s core team strives to advocate against sexual violence on campus, but also addresses concerns of women, transgender folks, and people who identify as queer. The team has collaborated with many organizations on campus including VOX, Center for Women and Community, and Stonewall to program events that create awareness towards some of the issues that exist. They also help support actions that show our community, our school, and our state what it really means to promote gender equity, whether it’s participating in a rally or showing support at a meeting.

SLAP Core Team
The Student Labor Action Project-- better known as SLAP-- started its chapter with unionizing our dining commons’ workers and has only strengthened workers’ rights and relations here on campus since. They were major players in last year’s InvolveUs campaign and continue to help organize so that the administration understands that students don’t only want services-- they want involvement, as well. Working with unions, laborers, staff, faculty, and other groups in the area as well as from other states, SLAP strives to show the importance of having workers’ rights be respected, how companies should conduct fair and equal business, and why student debt hurts everyone and not just us students. Focusing on student action and propelling student voice, SLAP students want to show everyone--the students, our administration, and our nation-- that justice is crucial to our society, and that students demand it.

CEPA Advisory Board

It is the purpose of the CEPA Board to set the programmatic direction of CEPA. The CEPA Board sets the programmatic direction of CEPA in consultation with SGA and various campus agencies, programs, RSOs and departments in order to support CEPA’s mission, goals, objectives and research agenda.